Fairfarren
by fickleminder
Summary: Hiccup wakes up to everything he's ever dreamed of. Secret-Agent-ish AU. Hijack.


**Author's Note**: Sorry about the lousy summary. This is just a quick one-shot I wrote during/between classes. It kinda distracted me from the lesson, but at least it kept me awake :P

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or How To Train Your Dragon.

* * *

**Fairfarren**

Hiccup opened his eyes to golden rays of sunlight.

He found himself lying in the middle of a soft white bed, tucked snugly under a silk comforter which draped generously over the edges of the king-sized mattress. A gentle breeze ruffled his auburn bangs in a tender caress and he slowly turned his head to the side, taking in his surroundings.

The clean and spacious room had cream-colored walls and a small desk in the corner, and there was even a rickety old rocking chair sitting at the side, next to an open window where light yellow curtains swayed in the wind. His gaze travelled from the cozy furniture to the sight of deep blue waves crashing onto the shore outside, and if he strained his ears a little, he could hear the squawks of seagulls in the distance.

Light footsteps sounded from the doorway across the room, and Hiccup glanced towards it to see a familiar white-haired man walking in.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Jack greeted with a smile and sat down at the edge of the mattress, causing the bed to dip slightly from the added weight.

"Jack?" Hiccup's tone held incredulity, as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "What are you doing here? Where am I?" He tried to sit up, only to be pushed back down gently.

"Someplace safe. This beach house is a little getaway of mine, no one will find us here," Jack explained, spreading his arms to gesture at the room around them. "You've been sleeping for so long, I figured a little change of scenery might wake you up."

"Wake me up? Wha–?"

Hiccup stiffened when Jack leaned over to cup his face and press their foreheads together, bumping their noses playfully. His heart raced at the agent's close proximity as he stared deeply into ice-blue eyes.

"You scared me, you know?" Jack whispered softly, his thumbs tracing small circles over the freckles splashed across the brunet's cheeks. "I wasn't sure what I was going to find when I went back for you."

"I –" Hiccup faltered as the memories rushed back, wincing when he remembered how he had been ambushed, beaten and tortured in the control room while trying to stop the virus from tearing their core systems to shreds. If he had failed, half the city would have been leveled by a bomb hidden by the terrorists. The last thing he recalled was a flash of white hair before a pistol whip to the head knocked him out, leaving him lying in a pool of his own blood.

Jack's hands dropped down to wind around his arms and pulled him up into a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're okay," he murmured into Hiccup's hair, pressing a loving kiss to his temple.

The gesture was foreign, but certainly not unwelcome. Hiccup leaned into Jack's chest, burying his face into the crook of his neck and breathing in his scent. It felt so long ago that they had embraced like this. "Does Manny know where we are?" he asked absently, relishing the feel of the agent stroking his back.

Pulling away with a cheeky grin, Jack winked at him. "Nah, I smuggled you out of the hospital after the doctors gave you the all clear."

Hiccup rolled his eyes with a groan and opened his mouth, ready to lecture him about proper protocol. But the moment he parted his lips, Jack swooped in and captured them in a searing kiss, practically smashing their faces together. Despite being caught by surprise, Hiccup was quick to respond, wrapping his arms around Jack's neck and moaning in bliss as he pulled them closer.

After what felt like hours of passionate snogging, the need for air eventually won through and they broke apart, smiling giddily at each other. Jack stood up and extended a hand to Hiccup.

"Come on! I'll show you the rest of the house. You've been asleep for weeks, so it's time to get some exercise!" he said brightly, jerking his head towards the door. Chuckling at the other's unusual enthusiasm, Hiccup reached out to take the offered hand and twisted his body to the side as he planted his feet on the smooth wooden floor –

He froze.

Casting his eyes downwards, he flexed his feet experimentally and the grasp on Jack's hand tightened into a grip when he saw ten toes wriggling back at him. A startled gasp tore itself from his throat and he looked at the agent for an explanation, but all he got was a casual shrug in return.

"You coming or what?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow as if nothing was amiss.

Hiccup was speechless for a few moments, but then the mental gears began to turn and realization sank in. An impossibly large grin broke across his face and Jack took that as his cue to tug the brunet off the bed, lacing their fingers together.

Hand in hand, they walked out the door and into the sun.

* * *

"Call it."

"Time of death…"

* * *

"Hey mate… you alright?"

"Fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Yer best friend just died," Aster frowned at the other agent's bored tone. "Ya disobeyed orders and went back fer him, and then ya nearly got yerself killed hauling his ass outta that building. After all ya did to save him, he's dead."

Jack shrugged noncommittally, hands resting lazily in his pockets. "So?"

The Australian couldn't believe his ears. This was the man who went AWOL for a month to look after their resident technical genius when he had lost his left leg in an accident, knowing full well that he could have easily been dismissed for breaking protocol so early in his career, and now ten years later he couldn't care less after hearing that his childhood friend had succumbed to his injuries? Aster was willing to admit that Frost was one of the best agents they had, but now he wasn't so sure that he liked what working for the Agency had done to the once energetic and optimistic man…

"If there's nothing else, I'll be heading back now." With a squeak of his shoes on the polished hospital floor, Jack turned to walk away.

"He loved you, ya know…" Aster said sadly, watching the other agent pause in his steps. "He loved you so much, and all ya did was treat him like one of yer conquests. Tell me, was he just another one-night stand? Or did he actually mean something to ya?"

Jack was silent. They all knew how much he had changed after being recruited into the service, but any confrontation about his increasingly imprudent behavior only led to senseless fights which always ended in harsh dismissal. Aster had lost count of the number of times Hiccup had called him in tears, sobbing about the latest verbal abuse hurled at him and wishing hopelessly just to have his best friend back.

The kid didn't deserve this. It had already been too late, but Manny had still ordered a city-wide evacuation to save as many as he could. Hiccup had stubbornly chosen to stay behind in the doomed Agency, insisting that he could stop the virus. He had saved everyone, Jack included, but he paid the price with his life despite the agent's strangely valiant efforts to return the favor. If this was how Jack was going to react to his sacrifice, perhaps it was for the best that he had passed on.

Without answering, Jack abruptly turned the corner and walked away, leaving his disappointed partner behind.

He caught sight of his reflection in a mirror along the hallway as he headed towards the exit, and he stopped momentarily to admire his disheveled state. His white dress shirt was stained almost completely red from Hiccup's blood and his hair was in utter disarray, but what caught his attention were the twin streaks of tears that dribbled uncontrollably down his cheeks.

Snarling in disgust at the pitiful image, Jack pulled his fist back and slammed it into the glass surface, shattering it into pieces. A broken reflection stared back at him and his hand throbbed with pain, but he paid it no mind as he turned away to resume his previous course.

Blood dripping from his knuckles trailed after him as he left, accompanied occasionally by a drop or two of salty tears which streamed from his eyes, seemingly unable to stop.

* * *

**Author's Note**: AWOL means "absent without official leave", by the way. Thanks for reading!


End file.
